Minnesota Timberwolves

Minnesota has a record good enough to be leading the Southeast Division. It’s in the cellar of the Northwest, though. The T-Wolves blew out the Suns on Tuesday night to sweep the home-and-home consecutive games with Phoenix.

Gorgui Dieng and Devin Booker got into it and were, reportedly, flinging away security guards in the tunnel to try and settle things face-to-face. The NBA hasn’t announced any punishments so we can assume Dieng will be good to go in this game.

Dieng has carved out a nice career for himself after coming over from Senegal, attending Louisville and winning a National Championship that has since been vacated.

He’s a bit of a burden for his team now; at least, he’s not living up to the four-year $64 million extension he signed that carries him through 2021. He’s playing just 13.5 minutes per game this season and the Wolves could really use a shot-blocker next to Karl-Anthony Towns. I think the plan was for that guy to be Dieng.

Neither Jeff Teague nor Tyus Jones played on Tuesday. Both are day-to-day and could be back for this game. Robert Covington’s ankle remains a problem, though. There still isn’t a timetable for his return.

Utah Jazz

The Jazz proved last season that when it gets going, it can rip off wins in big chunks. After losing close game in Houston on December 17 to fall three games under .500, Utah has been winning a lot and, often times, by a lot.

The Jazz is five games over .500 now after winning for the seventh time in the last eight games. It beat Denver in Salt Lake City, 114–108. Donovan Mitchell had 35 points and Rudy Gobert played 37 minutes against Nikola Jokic and notched yet another double-double with 15 points and 10 rebounds.

Mitchell is just cooking with at least 24 points in his last 10 games. The only thing Quinn Snyder has to be concerned about at this point are Mitchell’s minutes. He’s playing a lot on the hot run but Ricky Rubio is back and working his way back to a full workload.

As good as Utah has been with Mitchell handling the ball more, it’s at its best with Rubio running the point and Mitchell playing both on and off the ball, as we saw in the playoffs last year.

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